Irish Ports - Political concerns.

Case Study

Irish Ports

Political,

Politics are a concern for all companies Irish Ports are no exception. It is politics that govern the way Irish Ports is managed. It is guidelines set by the governments and the E.U that the companies have to follow whether it has a positive or negative affect. Normally careful consideration is used to decide how much of an affect the new proposal may cause, be it positive or negative. If it is decided that at first the affect is negative but will recover over a period of time, the change will be introduced. This has affected Irish Ports because of a programme introduced to try and help it, by investing IR£163million. The hope of this investment was to try and bring about a reduction in combined port and shipping costs. A review group from the E.U noticed that there were problems and suggested four points that could be considered to try bringing Irish Ports up to speed with the rest of Europe. One of these was Privatisation. This can sometimes be more of a problem than a solution.

This is because if the company became privatised it means they become owned by investors and if they all decide that their investment was a mistake they may decide to pull out. If this happens the company will become very low on funds and drastic measures will have to be taken on allocation of funding. Whereas if the company stayed under funding from the government they know that if it comes down to it they can get a cash injection to help sort any problems that may occur. An example of a poor decision to privatise is the British railways. This has become under close observations since the many dreadful crashes that have occurred. This is a direct result of becoming privatised. Therefore I believe that privatisation would be a wrong and devastating decision for Irish Ports. An option that I believe could be a step in the right direction would be to have a wider market of investors and buyers. By this I mean the company needs to be sold better around the world as a great company to use for shipping and tourism purposes. This would be a good start in ensuring the companies future. To follow this up an investment from the government could be used to upgrade the ports themselves and to introduce bigger and more efficient ferries and freighters as well as re-furbishing the older serving models.

Economic,

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Economic,

Due to the opening of the Channel Tunnel, Ireland has become the only member of the European Union (E.U) not to have a direct land link to the rest of Europe. As a direct result of the Channel Tunnel people have been given an easier and cheaper way of getting into Europe. This puts Irish Ports under great pressures to try and compete within the business and tourist markets. What this means for Irish Ports is the loss of business and of course profits. The amounts of options to consider are limited. One option would be to lower the prices and compete directly with this new type of market. This option is soon cancelled out because with the reduction in prices there is a reduction in profits. To compensate for this, wages may have to be decreased, or the company will have to start making people redundant.

With Ireland being a member of the E.U it is affected by the laws made by the other members. An example of this would be the abolishment of “Duty Free Sales”. When this law was brought into action, the sale prices of items such as Cigarettes and Alcohol went up. This meant that the prices of these items on the ferry were no different to those on the mainland. This cut of a major part of the markets straight away. By this I mean there were many people who used the ferries to get to Europe not because of the price to get on but for the chance of buying duty free. This blow did not just affect the drop in sales of popular items such as the cigarettes and alcohol but in the actual bookings on the ferries themselves. People decided that because there was no duty free there was not much appeal of being on a ferry for numerous hours when it was quicker and easier to use other modes of transportation.

Social

The social aspects of Irish Ports are quite an important part to consider because under this title you can place employment and environmental. Irish Ports are a large provider of jobs in the local areas around the ports. Without Irish Ports lots of people would be out of work and claiming the dole. If this happened the economy would suffer due to the fact there are a lot of people unemployed. There are a lot of people’s livelihoods depending on the jobs with Irish Ports.

Environmental in today’s day and age is becoming more and more of a problem for businesses and those living around the same area. This is because there are stricter guidelines trying to protect those who work in the area and those who live in the area also. The problems that Irish Ports suffer are the amount of fuel burned or lost into the sea and also the amount of noise that the company produces. With regards to the consumption or loss of fuel there is very little that can be done except to try and be careful and maybe train those staff who handle these types of materials to a higher standard. The same goes for noise pollution, there is not a lot that can be done except to try and keep it under control. Noise can be a problem for some of the people who may live in the surrounding area because of the engines of the big ferries, the amount of cars passing through and the horns that the ferries use. All these factors contribute to the amount of noise produced by the port.

Technology,

Technology is a great thing, it can mean the difference between a well-organised and efficient business, or not! Aided by technology companies can reach new goals and targets making them progressively better companies. The more and more efficient a company is the smoother they are, and the better the consumers feel. An example of technology would be computers and the Internet. Due to this amazing piece of technology companies can expand their markets and sell themselves all over the world. Thanks to computers businesses become a lot easier to manage because everything needed is stored on the computers. The use of E-Mail is a great gift for small and large companies alike. This is because communication becomes so much easier. You are able to make contact with other parts of your company in different countries with ease. With the E-Mail system you can send copies of documents or photographs to those who require it, with no complications.

Technology has provided Irish Ports with a super ferry or the Lynx. The introduction of this new ferry has dramatically cut the time to cross between Rosslaire to Fishguard down to under two hours. However because of the design of this super ferry it becomes less efficient in the slightest of swells. But the introduction of the Lynx ferry has caused a stir in the market making people realise that a journey on a ferry may take less time than first expected. If the market could have more of these types of ferries introduced it could mean a brighter future for Irish Ports.